"Alta Devices goal is to continue to lead the industry in solar technology and to enable a broad range of autonomous systems. We believe this is the best way to support the innovations of our customers,"

Fiskers scientists have reached an early breakthrough in solid-state technology. The wider team includes the co-founder of solid-state battery technology pioneer, Sakti3 - a first inventor of the seminal patents. Implications for Fiskers vehicles beyond 2023 - as well as the larger EV industry as a whole - are significant. The patent includes claims over novel materials and manufacturing processes that are critical in achieving the required energy density, power and cost targets that are paramount for the widespread use of electric vehicles.

Archimedes once remarked that if given a lever of sufficient length and a fulcrum against which to place it, he could move the world. Musks first Gigafactory, aptly (if unimaginatively) named 'Gigafactory 1 is a Nevada-based production facility tasked with nothing less than shifting the world toward clean energy.

Brett Belan, Apparent Energy for MotherEarth News: The time is here for solar power to make its way to our vehicles. The state-of-the-art panels pose no weight limitation. At 6 pounds per 150 watts, thin flexible solar panels will weigh 600 pounds but give you 15 kilowatts! This is enough to directly drive from the sun.
However, the surface area is a limitation, because that much solar would require 10 feet around the vehicle on all sides. The solution, ironically, is a mechanical engineering question of how to accordion-style fold these panels to conveniently open them for charging while the vehicle is at a standstill. Cont'd...

Walt Mills for Phys.org: The energy-storage goal of a polymer dielectric material with high energy density, high power density and excellent charge-discharge efficiency for electric and hybrid vehicle use has been achieved by a team of Penn State materials scientists. The key is a unique three-dimensional sandwich-like structure that protects the dense electric field in the polymer/ceramic composite from dielectric breakdown. Their results are published today (Aug. 22) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"Polymers are ideal for energy storage for transportation due to their light weight, scalability and high dielectric strength," says Qing Wang, professor of materials science and engineering and the team leader. "However, the existing commercial polymer used in hybrid and electric vehicles, called BOPP, cannot stand up to the high operating temperatures without considerable additional cooling equipment. This adds to the weight and expense of the vehicles." Cont'd...

Stephen Edelstein for GreenCarReports: Tesla Motors was the first carmaker to branch out from selling electric cars to offering standalone battery packs for energy storage, but others have followed the company's lead.
Mercedes-Benz and Nissan have stated their intentions to enter the energy-storage market, and now BMW is jumping on the bandwagon as well.
At the Electric Vehicle Symposium & Exhibition 29—known as EVS29—held this week in Montreal, Canada, BMW unveiled an energy-storage system that uses battery packs from i3 electric cars.
Developed in concert with German firm Beck Automation, BMW's system is designed to use either new battery packs or "second-life" packs that have degraded too much for continued use in electric cars.
Battery packs that can no longer function in cars still have enough usable capacity for energy storage.
BMW has tested the concept over the past five years with various research projects, including a 2013 "micro-grid" project with the University of San Diego, and a 2014 collaboration in Germany with utility Vattenfall to use electric-car battery packs as buffer to help stabilize electricity grids. Cont'd...

The developed solar panels will be integrated in body panels in a Clean Motion Zbee ultra-light electric vehicle composite roof.
The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Mistra, is funding Midsummers development of lightweight solar modules on vehicles.

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